Art Manchester Time Piece June 21, 2011 This Midsummer’s day, Manchester will be made into a giant sundial.

Tuesday 21st June is the longest day of the year, and to mark the occasion in Manchester the group Tern Collective will be using the city’s architecture to create a huge sundial.

Noticing that Manchester’s Beetham Tower casts a long shadow over the city, the group decided to use it to good effect as the gnomon (shadow making part) of a sundial. The Beetham Tower is the UK’s tallest building outside of London, and was completed in 2007. In a Ballardian gesture, the tower’s architect, Ian Simpson, occupies the top two floors, which are complete with roof garden containing an olive grove.

From 7am to 7pm they will be following the shadow across the city and uploading photos to mark its location. Every hour there will be a tweet (@McrTimePiece) that shows the tower from the current location of its shadow.

You can follow the group online throughout the day here.

Photo by 1uk3 on Flickr.